


The future's what you make of it

by professor



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Charles and Erik are hot at any age, M/M, Magneto and Professor X are dirty old men, Time Travel, selfcest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-19
Updated: 2012-12-19
Packaged: 2017-11-21 14:25:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 714
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/598779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/professor/pseuds/professor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A time travel mishap brings Magneto and Professor X to the mansion in 1962, pre-Cuba.  Erik has a chat with his future self and doesn't like what he hears.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The future's what you make of it

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cesare](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cesare/gifts).



> Saw this prompt on Cesare's tumblr and got plotbunnied:
> 
> "I desperately want old!Erik to tell young!Erik some of the crap that old!Erik’s gotten up to over the years, especially in re Charles, and for young!Erik to react with WHAT. WHAT are you CRAZY how could you DO THAT we LOVE HIM, and old!Erik’s like… well, yes, but the cause… and young!Erik is aghast and goes straight to Charles to confess and ask forgiveness for stuff he hasn’t even done yet and possibly now will never do."

Magneto sees the exact moment he loses his younger self, shock and horror and disbelief written across young Erik’s face.

Oh well. Timelines being what they are, Magneto isn’t worried about what will happen when he returns to his own. The decades have proven that the multiverse is infinitely flexible and adaptive. (Besides, he does like the idea that somewhere out there, a version of himself and a version of Charles have a shot at building something together, even if he himself would not trade a moment of the years he’s lived -- or not lived -- with his Charles, regrets and all.)

“ _What._.” says Young Erik, pacing and running his hands through his hair, visibly agitated. “ _What_ , are you _crazy_? How could you _do that_ to him? I -- we -- _love him_ , how could you do those things, _how_ \--”

“Many sacrifices have had to be made for the cause,” is Magneto’s only response. He doesn’t try to justify himself. He is not answerable to anyone, not even his younger self. 

“I don’t care! I don’t -- how could you even _think_ \--”

It’s just as well that this Erik (probably) won’t be leading a mutant revolution on his own, as his oratory skills aren’t quite up to snuff -- he just keeps stumbling over his own words and half-muttering nonsense and pacing around in circles.

And then Young Erik abruptly turns on his heel and storms out of the room.

Magneto rolls his eyes and follows.

*****

Erik can’t believe this waking nightmare he’s living, ever since that experiment of Hank’s went wrong. He sees his older self, hears the words out of his mouth, and cannot believe -- desperately wants to deny -- that this is his future. 

A future without Charles. 

Oh god, Charles. If this is what Erik is finding out, what kinds of terrible revelations is Charles hearing from _his_ older self? (The wheelchair had already been a nasty shock.) 

Erik only barely manages to keep himself from running from the library to the study, where Charles is speaking with his own older self. As it is, he walks swiftly enough to get his heart rate up -- or maybe that’s just his anger at Magneto. 

Erik flings open the door of the study with his power, and stops dead.

“Erik!” yelps Charles as he nearly falls off of the Professor’s lap. Both men are disheveled, with swollen lips and dark eyes and it’s blatantly obvious that Charles has been getting along much, much better with his own elder counterpart than Erik has. 

“I can’t believe you’re actually surprised by this,” Magneto murmurs from behind him.

Erik would be offended and angry except A) they’re both technically the same person, so he’s pretty sure it counts more like masturbation, and B) he’s incredibly turned on right now.

Erik has never had a thing for older men before, but it’s _Charles_.

“Oh Charles,” says Magneto from behind him, amused. “Starting without me?”

Erik is suddenly very aware that Magneto is not just behind him, but standing very, very close to him indeed. And he understands _exactly_ why Charles found the Professor so irresistible.

Everything goes downhill from there, in the best way possible. 

*****

Magneto and the Professor are both, dirty, _dirty_ old men with inventive minds and plenty of experience to back it up. Erik’s never come so hard or so often in his life, _ever_. And oh god, watching Charles just _come apart_ again and again and again -- Erik will never, ever forget that, not if he lives to be a hundred.

But now they’ve fallen, all four of them, into a sticky, sated pile, and Erik takes the opportunity to cradle Charles in his arms and project a tendril of inquiry.

_Yes, Erik?_ Even Charles’ mental voice sounds sleepy, but Erik doesn’t want to put this off.

_I’ve enjoyed this, and I don’t … dislike Magneto or the Professor. But I don’t want us to become them, either. Even if we don’t want the same thing, I want us to stay together._

There’s no mistaking the bright pulse of Charles’ happiness, even if it’s still laced with sleepiness. 

_I want that too, Erik. Let’s talk about it in the morning. But for now, let's sleep._

For the first time in decades, Erik has no nightmares that he can recall.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [the future makes of you what it will (the recreational time travel remix)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1596578) by [pocky_slash](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pocky_slash/pseuds/pocky_slash)




End file.
